Steinert-Garcia claims her first women's crown

Alanna Steinert-Garcia had one fewer fan cheering her on in the Pear Blossom Run Saturday.

By TIM TROWER

Alanna Steinert-Garcia had one fewer fan cheering her on in the Pear Blossom Run Saturday.

It didn't deter her, however.

More likely, it motivated the Applegate School teacher to achieve one of her "life goals" of winning the women's division of the 10-mile race through west Medford and beyond.

Usually, Steinert-Garcia's husband, Jose, is on hand. On this day, the army serviceman was preparing to leave today for annual training in California. In May, he'll begin a year's deployment in Iraq.

"I can't wait to tell my husband," said Steinert-Garcia, who lives in Grants Pass. "He's at the armory now, but we'll celebrate tonight. He's always supportive of my running no matter what my time is."

There was plenty to celebrate on this day.

The former distance runner at Hidden Valley High in Murphy and at Southern Oregon University has long been working her way to victory. In this, her seventh appearance, she continued a trend of placing higher in each successive race.

She cruised to victory in 1 hour, 2 minutes and 14 seconds, keeping a steady pace and position ahead of a handful of challengers and improving on her third place of a year ago.

Bree Ray was second in her first Pear Blossom. The Woodinville, Wash., resident, in town visiting family, broke away from the contending pack and was timed in 1:03:15.

Jenn Shelton of Ashland was third in 1:03:50, followed by Maggie Donovan of Medford (1:04:51) and Ali Miles of Jacksonville (1:04:57).

The women's race was considered wide open because the top two placers from last year weren't entered.

Steinert-Garcia didn't think she had much of a chance to win because, she said, she works full time and runs primarily for fitness.

She started out with a goal of finishing in one hour but was uncertain of her pace because she didn't start her watch. Complicating matters was a side ache that crept up and stayed with her for the first few miles.

Steinert-Garcia didn't know at what clip she was running, "But it didn't feel like I could run a lot faster," she said.

She was by herself almost from the get-go, but not comfortably so. The pack that included Ray hovered about 100 yards back through the first half of the race.

"When I looked back," said Steinert-Garcia, "they weren't significantly behind me, which was good. I was in no man's land and that kind of pushed me."

All the way to the finish line.

Afterward, she realized that a different approach to the race might have been beneficial.

"I rested before the race," she said. "I usually train really hard for it, but this year my legs felt pretty good."

Ray, too, didn't think her odds of winning were very good.

"Every year it seems like someone shows up," she said.

She's the daughter of Suzanne Ray, an accomplished runner in the area, and set her sights on what turned out to be achievable goals.

"I just came in here wanting to have a good time and to see if I could finish in the top five," said Ray. "We had a good pack, and we stayed together for about the first five miles."